Traditional Chinese - Basic Location

Lesson 16 of 152

A bright Taipei café table with a phone, books, cups, and a bag arranged to show basic location in Traditional Chinese. Taiwan Mandarin labels highlight under, behind, in front, between, inside, and outside.

Goal: Put things under, behind, in front, between, inside, and outside.

Free traditional Chinese lessons with Taiwan Mandarin audio and speaking practice.

Welcome back! Today we’re giving your Mandarin a tiny map: not the whole GPS, just enough to say where things are without waving your hands too much.

You’ll hear the phrases, practice the meanings, then say them out loud—because location words are much easier when your mouth knows the route.

Level A1: In this lesson, you’ll practice simple Taiwan Mandarin location phrases using 在 (zài), like ___在___下面 (___ zài ___ xiàmiàn), ___在___後面 (___ zài ___ hòumiàn), and ___在裡面還是外面？ (___ zài lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn?). You’ll learn how to say something is under, behind, in front of, between two things, at a place, inside, or outside. Very handy for lost phones, café seats, and tiny everyday mysteries.

After this lesson you'll be able to:

  • Use 在 (zài) to say where a person or thing is.
  • Say “under,” “behind,” and “in front of” with 下面 (xiàmiàn), 後面 (hòumiàn), and 前面 (qiánmiàn).
  • Use ___在___跟___中間 (___ zài ___ gēn ___ zhōngjiān) to say something is between two things.
  • Ask and answer whether something is inside or outside with ___在裡面還是外面？ (___ zài lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn?), ___在裡面 (___ zài lǐmiàn), and ___在外面 (___ zài wàimiàn).
A friendly classroom-style scene in Taiwan with Traditional Chinese location words floating around everyday objects. The Taiwan Mandarin lesson topic is basic location for beginners.

Ready? Let's go!

When you tap play on phrases, we track your progress through this lesson.

1. Reading + Listening Practice

Hear core phrases, repeat aloud.

___在___下面。

___ zài ___ xiàmiàn.

___ is under ___.

Meaning: ___在___下面 (___ zài ___ xiàmiàn) means “___ is under ___.”

When to use: Use ___在___下面 (___ zài ___ xiàmiàn) when something is below or underneath another thing.

手機在桌子下面。

Shǒujī zài zhuōzi xiàmiàn.

The phone is under the table.
貓在椅子下面

Māo zài yǐzi xiàmiàn.

The cat is under the chair.

___在___後面。

___ zài ___ hòumiàn.

___ is behind ___.

Meaning: ___在___後面 (___ zài ___ hòumiàn) means “___ is behind ___.”

When to use: Use ___在___後面 (___ zài ___ hòumiàn) for a person or thing located behind something or someone.

David在Anna後面。

David zài Anna hòumiàn.

David is behind Anna.
便利商店在銀行後面。

Biànlì shāngdiàn zài yínháng hòumiàn.

The convenience store is behind the bank.

___在___前面。

___ zài ___ qiánmiàn.

___ is in front of ___.

Meaning: ___在___前面 (___ zài ___ qiánmiàn) means “___ is in front of ___.”

When to use: Use ___在___前面 (___ zài ___ qiánmiàn) for a person or thing located in front of something or someone.

公車站在學校前面。

Gōngchē zhàn zài xuéxiào qiánmiàn.

The bus stop is in front of the school.
Anna在大門前面。

Anna zài dàmén qiánmiàn.

Anna is in front of the main entrance.

___在___跟___中間。

___ zài ___ gēn ___ zhōngjiān.

___ is between ___ and ___.

Meaning: ___在___跟___中間 (___ zài ___ gēn ___ zhōngjiān) means “___ is between ___ and ___.”

When to use: Use ___在___跟___中間 (___ zài ___ gēn ___ zhōngjiān) when one thing is between two reference points.

Tip: Use 跟 (gēn) between the two reference points. In spoken Taiwan Mandarin, 跟 (gēn) is a very natural way to say “and” here.

手機在書跟杯子中間。

Shǒujī zài shū gēn bēizi zhōngjiān.

The phone is between the book and the cup.
捷運站在銀行跟超市中間。

Jiéyùn zhàn zài yínháng gēn chāoshì zhōngjiān.

The MRT station is between the bank and the supermarket.

___在___。

___ zài ___.

___ is at ___.

Meaning: ___在___ (___ zài ___) means “___ is at ___.”

When to use: Use ___在___ (___ zài ___) to say someone or something is at a place.

Tip: 在 (zài) already means “is at” here, so beginners usually do not need to add 是 (shì) before it.

Anna在咖啡店。

Anna zài kāfēi diàn.

Anna is at the café.
David在學校。

David zài xuéxiào.

David is at school.

___在裡面還是外面？

___ zài lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn?

Is ___ inside or outside?

Meaning: ___在裡面還是外面？ (___ zài lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn?) means “Is ___ inside or outside?”

When to use: Use ___在裡面還是外面？ (___ zài lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn?) to ask whether a person or thing is indoors, inside something, or outside.

Tip: 還是 (háishì) is used for an “A or B?” question, like 裡面還是外面 (lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn), “inside or outside?”

貓在裡面還是外面？

Māo zài lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn?

Is the cat inside or outside?
David在裡面還是外面？

David zài lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn?

Is David inside or outside?

___在裡面

___ zài lǐmiàn.

___ is inside.

Meaning: ___在裡面 (___ zài lǐmiàn) means “___ is inside.”

When to use: Use ___在裡面 (___ zài lǐmiàn) for a person or thing inside a room, building, container, or area.

貓在裡面

Māo zài lǐmiàn.

The cat is inside.
Anna在裡面。

Anna zài lǐmiàn.

Anna is inside.

___在外面

___ zài wàimiàn.

___ is outside.

Meaning: ___在外面 (___ zài wàimiàn) means “___ is outside.”

When to use: Use ___在外面 (___ zài wàimiàn) for a person or thing that is outside or outdoors.

狗在外面

Gǒu zài wàimiàn.

The dog is outside.
David在外面。

David zài wàimiàn.

David is outside.

2. Conversational Listening Practice

Hear phrases in a real mini-conversation.

At a café, Anna and David are looking for Anna’s phone before they leave.

Anna and David search for a phone near a café table in Taiwan, with Traditional Chinese speech bubbles showing basic location phrases. The scene illustrates Taiwan Mandarin words for inside, outside, under, behind, and between.

Is Anna’s phone inside or outside?

Portrait of Anna in a Traditional Chinese lesson dialogue

Anna

David，我的手機在裡面還是外面？

David, wǒ de shǒujī zài lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn?

David, is my phone inside or outside?

Portrait of David in a Traditional Chinese lesson dialogue

David

手機在裡面。手機在書跟杯子中間嗎？

Shǒujī zài lǐmiàn. Shǒujī zài shū gēn bēizi zhōngjiān ma?

The phone is inside. Is it between the book and the cup?

Portrait of Anna in a Traditional Chinese lesson dialogue

Anna

沒有，書跟杯子中間沒有。

Méiyǒu, shū gēn bēizi zhōngjiān méiyǒu.

No, it’s not between the book and the cup.

Portrait of David in a Traditional Chinese lesson dialogue

David

你看，手機在桌子下面。

Nǐ kàn, shǒujī zài zhuōzi xiàmiàn.

Look, the phone is under the table.

Portrait of Anna in a Traditional Chinese lesson dialogue

Anna

找到了！你的包包在椅子後面。

Zhǎo dào le! Nǐ de bāobāo zài yǐzi hòumiàn.

Found it! Your bag is behind the chair.

Portrait of David in a Traditional Chinese lesson dialogue

David

好，我在門前面等你。

Hǎo, wǒ zài mén qiánmiàn děng nǐ.

Okay, I’ll wait for you in front of the door.

3. Guided Practice

Quizzes and matching to lock in meaning.

Which sentence means “The phone is under the table”?

Which question asks “Is David inside or outside?”

What does “Anna在學校。” mean?

Which sentence means “The café is between the bank and the supermarket”?

The phone is under the table.

我在客廳找手機，桌上沒有；我低頭看，手機___。

Is Anna inside or outside?

老師找Anna，教室的門開著，老師問：Anna___？

The MRT station is between the bank and the supermarket.

看地圖，從左到右是銀行、捷運站、超市；捷運站___。

Match the core phrases

Match the extra phrases

4. Speaking Practice

Say phrases yourself (mic/recording).

Recording stays on your device only. Check speech uses your browser's speech tools when available.

Say this phrase out loud:

___在___下面。

___ zài ___ xiàmiàn.

___ is under ___.

Say this phrase out loud:

___在___後面。

___ zài ___ hòumiàn.

___ is behind ___.

Say this phrase out loud:

___在___前面。

___ zài ___ qiánmiàn.

___ is in front of ___.

Say this phrase out loud:

___在___跟___中間。

___ zài ___ gēn ___ zhōngjiān.

___ is between ___ and ___.

Say this phrase out loud:

___在___。

___ zài ___.

___ is at ___.

Say this phrase out loud:

___在裡面還是外面？

___ zài lǐmiàn háishì wàimiàn?

Is ___ inside or outside?

Say this phrase out loud:

___在裡面

___ zài lǐmiàn.

___ is inside.

Say this phrase out loud:

___在外面

___ zài wàimiàn.

___ is outside.